This invention relates to a timing device and more particularly to an indicator of musical rhythm.
Metronomes of various types have been used for years to assist practising musicians acquire a sense of timing and it has long been recognized that such an instrument tends to make most beginners play in a rather stilted or mechanical manner. In other words, a student musician is encouraged to follow the audible beat of the metronome and as a result finds it difficult to acquire a proper or natural sense of rhythm which is so essential if any music is to be played well.
The most pertinent prior art known to applicant comprises U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,930,997 dated Oct. 17, 1933 and 1,261,382 dated Apr. 2, 1918. Each of these prior art patents disclose the use of a circular disc which is concentrically mounted in a rotatable shaft, the disc being provided with a pointer or marker which itself is concentric to the shaft. Thus both patented devices, because of this absence of eccentricity, fail to provide an appreciable or readily discernible visual indication of rhythm and therefore they rely mainly on sound to beat out an audible indication of time as do other metronomes.